Banvard's Folly: Thirteen Tales of People Who Didn't Change the World

This impeccably documented book offers portraits of famously forgotten men and women, who leap from the ash heap of thankless obscurity and directly onto the page. Includes profiles of the eccentric panorama painter John Banvard, the delusional physicist Rene Blandlot, and the Shakespeare forger William Henry Ireland. 16-page photo insert.